ECON6038 Health Policy & Economics

Module Overview

The growing expertise in health economics at the Department of Economics offers a unique opportunity for the introduction of a health policy and economics module. The importance of health for
any human being, the size of the health sector, the limited resources available to meet the needs of an aging population (with higher levels of chronic disease) make health economics an important aspect of everyday life. At the same time, the relevance of health economics to a large number of sectors (e.g. health services, public health, medicine, pharmaceutical and health technology industry) makes this module of direct interest to postgraduate programme in Global Health, Public Health and
other health related studies. This module is offered as a compulsory module in the MSc Global Health programme.

Module Details

Semester:

Semester 2

CATS points:

10

ECTS points:

5

Level:

Level 7

Module Lead:

Emmanouil Mentzakis

Aims and Objectives

Module Aims

• Explain the use of economic concepts and underlying theories about health care and healthcare systems.
• Analyse and quantify the economic and resource implications of health care demand and supply and market failures
• Demonstrate the application of economic analysis to inform health policy decisions and planning

Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Understand the concepts behind health economic analysis and decision making

Understand the basic premise under which allocation decisions in the public health field are taken

Understand the structure and functioning of health care markets

Critically analyse the advantage and disadvantage of government intervention in health care

Apply a global perspective to understanding the resource implications and economic efficiency of health care systems

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

The module will consist of lectures with theoretical analysis and real-world examples and applications to improve students' learning and analytical skills. In-class group discussions of research papers will facilitate deeper understanding and encourage critical thinking.

Type

Hours

Teaching

20

Independent Study

130

Total study time

150

Resources & Reading list

Assessment

Assessment Strategy

The overall pass mark for the module is 50% with a required minimum of 40% in each assessed component. If the overall mark is less than 50% when the weighting has been applied to the components, this constitutes a failure of the module. Students who have failed the module will be referred in the components in which they did not achieve at least 50%.